For almost three decades it looked as if supermarket expansion plans had no end. Megastores and out of town retail spaces were blistering on to the landscape across the country as the big five supermarkets competed to lure customers for their 'big weekly shop'.

They transformed the way we shopped, changing from somewhere we went to buy a few groceries to a one-stop destination for everything from a washing machine, handbag or barbeque to a full set of garden furniture.

But figures released today suggest the age of the megastore - or hypermarket as they were called back in the 1990s - may be waning, with plans for new premises shrinking back to levels not seen since the recession.

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Changing shape: While plans for stores in town centres have remained broadly flat, plans for out-of-town stores have stalled

The amount of floorspace in the pipeline has dropped from 18.51million sq ft to just 15.22million sq ft over the last year – even though new store proposals have continued to rise.

The figures from global property consultants CBRE hint at a sea change in how we choose to shop – and the shape of things to come.

Shoppers are rejecting the 'big weekly shop' model and choosing to buy less more often, in so-called 'top-up' shops.

As cash-strapped continue to suffer from stagnant wage growth combined with inflation that continues to erode disposable incomes, it appears many households are rejecting the model whereby they can buy their groceries and throw a new television into the trolley as well.

The transition has led to the rising popularity of smaller, convenience-style stores – and a decline in the popularity of out of town stores.

Chris Keen, director at CBRE, said retailers' preference for smaller store formats is starting to show through with proposals for floor space at their lowest level since the 'race for space' began at the onset of the financial crisis.

'The reason for the shift to smaller stores is in part a response to changing consumer shopping patterns but also because they are require less capital expenditure to deliver, have less impact on trade of existing stores and are easier to secure planning,' he added.

Shoppers are also increasingly turning to budget supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi, which plan to double the number of their smaller retail stores in the next decade to take advantage of their record sales.

The big five major supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda and Waitrose - appear to be fighting back against their low-cost rivals by opening more, smaller stores.

But despite reining in their expansion plans overall, supermarkets are still sitting on nearly 30 million sq ft of space that has been given permission to become a grocery store but is not under construction, up around 14 per cent on the year.

All singing: Tesco extra stores often contain cafes, pharmacists, clothing ranges as well as electrical appliances for sale

Tesco already appears to be rethinking its expansion strategy, announcing last month that it will use land previously earmarked for supermarkets to build 4,000 new homes.

It has come under fire for hoarding land on which an estimated 15,000 homes could be built.

The retailing giant faces a particularly uphill struggle to adapt to new shopping habits - being such a retailing behemoth any change in direction requires time and huge amounts of investment.

Last year it announced it is ploughing in £1billion to overhaul and revamp UK stores, it is scrapping more than 100 UK store developments and it is focusing growth on convenience stores.

The group recently ousted chief executive Phil Clarke when it announced another profit warning after suffering its worst sales decline in at least two decades, with its market share squeezed by the discount chains.

It has also recently announced plans for an own-brand mobile phone - following on from its tablet, the Hudl, two areas where it can expect a higher profit margin, in contrast to its traditional fare of cut-price televisions and white goods where it can only hope to achieve very low margins.

Demand for land space could shrink even further in future years as households increasingly turn to shopping online.

Not only will an increase in online shopping put an even greater strain on out of town shopping centres, it is also likely to further cut into supermarkets' margins, which are already suffering from the investment required to implement this new technology.

Domination: Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Asda and Tesco still have a most of the grocery market share, despite the rise of low-cost alternatives

'Margin dilution resulting from online grocery investment is also taking its toll,' the CBRE report said. 'The grocery majors cannot claw back the full cost of multi-channel investment from customers.'

While more efficient for supermarkets in some ways a move from in store to online shopping also creates more work and expense. The move shifts the work from shoppers – who used to traipse up and down aisles and then carry their shopping home – to the retailers themselves – who have to pick and bag the shopping and then deliver it to the customers.

But while the big supermarkets are having seeing their profits eroded by big investments in online shopping portals and opening convenience store formats, the budget supermarkets are staying well away.

This trend is making it even more difficult for the traditional supermarkets to compete with budget retailers on cost.

However although the budget brands are starting to eat into the market share of the major supermarkets, cumulatively the big brands still dwarf their discount rivals.

The big five grocery players held 5,556 branches amounting to 97.5million sq ft of main grocery shopping stock at the end of 2013. They had an average store size of 17,500 sq ft and an average sales density of around £1,150 sq ft.

Plans for new stores have been increasing, and supermarkets have a greater proportion of space with planning consent that has not yet been built on than any time in more than a decade

By comparison, Aldi and Lidl have 1,135 branches, making up just 9.1million sq ft of grocery space. Their stores are considerably smaller at just 8,000 sq ft on average and their sales densities are less than half the average of the big five supermarkets at £580 per sq ft.

Aldi and Lidl have opened 779 stores since 1998: the big five have added 3,847, much larger stores.

'The potential, via store openings, of Aldi and Lidl seriously denting the big five is consequently a lot less than might be thought from recent press comment,' the CBRE report said.

While the discount supermarkets have been increasing their market share over the past 15 years, they are still no where near the level enjoyed by the more established chains

Traditional retailers may face even greater financial pressures as it was revealed this week that dozens of local authorities are set to join a campaign to levy a new tax on supermarkets in a bid to rescue battered high streets.

The plan to use new legislation to allow councils to bring in an extra tax – dubbed a Tesco tax – was launched last week by 20 local authorities, but campaigners say almost 50 more councils have expressed an interest in joining the campaign, meaning almost a quarter of England's 326 councils could back the proposal.

Plans for a supermarket tax, led by Derby City Council, are being driven forward under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007, which obliges the Government to consider proposals put forward by councils.

The supermarket tax would apply to companies with properties with a rateable value of more than £500,000. In most areas such a tax would fall overwhelmingly on supermarkets.

Meanwhile an announcement from Procter & Gamble this week suggests that yet another assumption retailers have held about the way we shop may be called into question.

The company behind branding such as Pampers and Crest Toothpaste has announced it is to cull up to 100 of its brands, pointing to evidence that consumers do not always necessarily believe that more choice is better.

Retailers have for some time worked under the principal that the more choice, brands, colours, and scents available, the more likely consumers are to part with their hard-earned cash.

The announcement by P&G suggests that some may prefer to simplicity and convenience to choice.